Apple MacBook Pro Spring 2010 (15-inch)

April 13, 2010

Transcript

>>Dan Ackerman: I'm Dan Ackerman and we are here taking a very first look at this a member of Apple's new MacBook Pro family. This is the cool i7 15 inch MacBook Pro. We've obviously been waiting around for these MacBook Pro updates for a while. They've updated the entire line, that's the 13 inch, the 15 inch and the 17 inch. On the outside, you know, they all look pretty much the same. Apple has definitely put a lot into this aluminum unibody construction with the large glass multi-touch track pad that remains the same. On the13 inch side, you've still got the Intel Core to Dual Processors in there, the big change is the graphics are taking that NVIDIA 9400 integrated chip and replacing it with a better integrated NVIDIA graphic chip that's the 320 and then on the 15 and 17 inch versions they've gone to Intel's just built in integrated graphics and the writing on top of that NVIDIA 330 which is a great GPU. Like NVIDIA's Optimus solution which seamlessly switches between the integrated and discrete graphic's chips on some PCs. Apple has their own version of that they call it Automatic Graphic's Switching and it works largely the same way when you start an application that requires the discrete GPU, it just turns it on, and when you are done with that, it turns if off. It sees you as the end user. If you really want to you can go on the Options and force it on or off. So, the benefit of all that is you get the advantages of having a discrete GPU when you need but when you don't, you're not paying the battery price for having it. A lot of people when they have switchable graphics they just forget they even have it, they leave it on all the time or off all the time. So, having this automatic switchable system, a big win all around.
We're probably most excited about the Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, that's Intel's new line up replacing largely the core to dual line from last year. The Core i7 in this particular version is probably one of the most powerful CPUs out there. We expect this is going to be a pretty speedy 15 inch laptop. Now, this version I have right here, that's got the same 1440 by 900 display as usual. There's also now an option on the 15 inch system to upgrade to a higher resolution 1680 by 1050 display that's a $100. Add $50 on top of that, you can also get an anti-glare coating on the normally fairly glossy screen. Other than that, these are still pretty much the same MacBook Pros that you know from last year. Still no HD monitor, still no Blu-ray option, no 3G option and of course, physically on the outside, they look largely the same. Lots of upgrades on the inside though, we're especially excited about those Core series processors from Intel.
I'm Dan Ackerman and that is Apple's new 15 inch MacBook Pro.